Does John Key¬†really¬†think New Zealand is about to be hit by a wave of boat people?

‚ÄúWhat I‚Äôve said to the Australian prime minister is that we recognise there is a problem, and we recognise that from New Zealand‚Äôs perspective it‚Äôs a problem that is coming towards our shores at some point in the future.‚ÄĚ
Mr Key said that from all the intelligence he had received, this was ‚Äúa real issue‚ÄĚ.

Has he looked at a map recently? There is a lot of ocean between us and them. Short of us putting out the welcome mat for people-smugglers it seems very unlikely they will make it this far.

Bad jobs numbers and a succession of collapses of major businesses weighing your government down? You need: distraction! How about an old classic from the New Zealand politician‚Äôs playbook ‚Äď the Yellow Peril!

Passed on by Richard Seddon and Winston Peters, Yellow Peril‚Äôs now being wielded by John Key as he talks of vague, unsubstantiated threats that boatloads of Indonesians are heading for our shores (no, I‚Äôm not sure what terrors are meant to eventuate when they land, either)

Of course, the closest any boat people have actually come to reaching New Zealand was when our mates, the Aussies, thought about helping them

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Never mind that Indonesia is literally 1/6th of the world away,* John Key wants us to know the ‚Äėthreat‚Äô from boat people, threat of what I don‚Äôt know, is very real and something we should all be worried about. Far more worried than we should be about, say, the threat of losing our jobs. (* At nearly 4,000 miles the distance from the closest parts of Indonesia to New Zealand is the distance from Europe to North America and back. Most boat people make trips from Indonesia to one of Australia‚Äôs offshore islands, a journey of a couple of hundred miles. So, we‚Äôre being asked to believe that boat people are planning, for no apparent reason, to make a journey 20 times longer and over colder, rougher, open seas in the Tasman, when Australia‚Äôs right there, literally in the way ‚Äď doesn‚Äôt seem like a profitable business venture for the people smugglers for a start, 20 times the operating costs.)

Australia has clamped down on boat people, turning them away by force…now they appear to b coming for us.

Audrey Young reports from the NZ Herald.

People-smugglers in Indonesia are promoting a passage to New Zealand in shipping containers for up to $17,000 a person and are describing it to would-be customers as “the cruise ship option”, an Australian news investigation has found.

CHRISTMAS Island’s top bureaucrat says he believes there has been a marked slowdown in asylum boat arrivals since the return of the Coalition government and last minute policy changes by Labor before it lost the election.

Jon Stanhope, the former longstanding Labor chief minister of the ACT, said he had “no doubt” the new policies were having an impact on people smuggler movements.

“Over this last three or four weeks it’s been very noticeable that the rate of arrivals has slowed,” Mr Stanhope told ABC radio.¬† Read more »

Irrespective of whether or not boat people can make it to New Zealand (3,000 km of nasty open ocean to navigate) the numbers are much larger than people imagine.

When National amended the Immigration Act last year Labour claimed that there was no real need that the numbers were small and that we needn’t be worried about it.

Labour’s immigration spokeswoman Darien Fenton said it was important New Zealand’s borders were secure but the proposals were an over-reaction. She said New Zealand had taken far less than its annual quota of 750 refugees in recent years.

I thought I’d check what all the fuss was about…since it is massive news in Australia. A quick google search later and all the details can be found on an Australian government website. Including this chart:

Labour said that boat people will never come to NZ. Even now David Shearer is¬†insisting¬†that NZ is too far for boat people. And yet some have turned up, albeit lost off Australia, but carrying placards nonetheless¬†expressing¬†their desire to come here.

The overcrowded wooden fishing vessel carrying men, women and children was spotted off the coast of Geraldton, about 400km north of Perth in Western Australia.

It is believed to be the first boat to have travelled so far south in recent years. Most asylum seekers arrive near Christmas Island, more than 2000km north, where they are usually intercepted.¬† Read more »

In the case of Australia, concerns over ‚Äėunauthorised‚Äô boat arrivals or ‚Äėboat people‚Äô (also referred to as ‚Äėirregular maritime arrivals‚Äô) have occupied successive governments since the 1970s. However, many argue that the number of boat arrivals in Australia is very small in comparison to the significant flows of ‚Äėunauthorised‚Äô arrivals in other parts of the world over the last few decades. ¬† ¬†—aph.gov.au

Well, sure. ¬†Compared to the Iraqis fleeing their country before Desert Storm, or compared to the mess that’s Dafrur, I guess that would be true.